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Deadline: 26 March 2010, 14:00.
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Arctic permafrost leaking methane at record levels
While carbon dioxide gets most of the attention in the global warming debate, methane is pound-for-pound a more potent greenhouse gas, capable of trapping some 20 times more heat than CO2. Although methane is present in much lower quantities in the atmosphere, its potency makes it responsible for about one-fifth of man-made warming. The gas is found in natural gas deposits and is generated naturally by bacteria that break down organic matter, such as in the guts of farm animal. About two-thirds of global methane comes from man-made sources, and levels have more than doubled since the industrial revolution. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane lasts only a decade or so in the atmosphere, which has led some experts to call for greater attention to curbs on its production. Reductions in methane emissions could bring faster results in the fight against climate change, they say. Experts now say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.
Scientists have recorded a massive spike in the amount of a powerful greenhouse gas seeping from Arctic permafrost, in a discovery that highlights the risks of a dangerous climate tipping point. Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.
The discovery follows a string of reports from the region in recent years that previously frozen boggy soils are melting and releasing methane in greater quantities. Such Arctic soils currently lock away billions of tonnes of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, leading some scientists to describe melting permafrost as a ticking time bomb that could overwhelm efforts to tackle climate change. They fear the warming caused by increased methane emissions will itself release yet more methane and lock the region into a destructive cycle that forces temperatures to rise faster than predicted.
Paul Palmer, a scientist at Edinburgh University
The change in the Arctic is enough to explain a recent increase in global methane levels in the atmosphere, palmer said. Global levels have risen steadily since 2007, after a decade or so holding steady.
The new study shows that methane emissions from the Arctic increased by 31% from 2003 to 2007. The increase represents about 1m extra tonnes of methane each year. Palmer cautioned that the five-year increase was too short to call a definitive trend.
The findings are part of a wider study of methane emissions from global wetlands, such as paddy fields, marshes and bogs. To identify where methane was released, the researchers combined methane levels in the atmosphere with surface temperature changes. They did not measure methane emissions directly, but used satellite measurements of variations in groundwater depth, which alter the way bacteria break down organic matter to release or consume methane. They found that just over half of all methane emissions came from the tropics, with some 20m tonnes released from the Amazon river basin each year, and 26m tonnes from the Congo basin. Rice paddy fields across China and south and south-east Asia produced just under one-third of global methane, some 33m tonnes. Just 2% of global methane comes from Arctic latitudes, the study found, though the region showed the largest increases. The 31% rise in methane emissions there from 2003 to 2007 was enough to help lift the global average increase to 7%.
Palmer said: "Our study reinforces the idea that satellites can pinpoint changes in the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from a particular place on earth. This opens the door to quantifying greenhouse gas emissions made from a variety of natural and man-made sources." He added that it was a "disgrace" that so few satellites were launched to monitor levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/14/arctic-permafrost-methane
2.
Duration: 2 weeks
Review Essay: Edward Said: Criticism and Society, by Abdirahman Hussein; Edward Said at the Limits, by Mustapha Marrouchi
Reviewed by
Matthew Abraham
Matthew Abraham
While the process of “remembering Edward Said” began around 1992 when he was diagnosed with leukemia, Said’s passing on September 25th, 2003 , confirmed the urgency and necessity of building an up-to-date critical analysis of his literary-political writings, while also surveying the impact of his life as a scholar and political activist. Two recent books, Abdirahman Hussein’s Edward Said: Criticism and Society and Mustapha Marrouchi’s Edward Said at the Limits, provide vital assessments of the Saidian critical corpus—surveying the symbiotic relationship between his work as a literary critic, living and writing in the United States
It’s this figure-cum-trope of “the engaged intellectual speaking truth to power” against daunting odds that pulses through both of these important studies; each captures Said’s immense energy and passionate commitment to speaking out against grave injustices, his ability to break the easy-going collegiality of the professional guild while confronting one’s own colleagues, who often collude with the dictates of disciplinary decorum, while ignoring some of the most horrific aspects of U.S. and European military adventurism: Said’s call to “worldliness” brings with it a recognition of the connection between academic criticism and affairs of state—indeed, to what degree does academic knowledge provide a sort of ideological cover or rationale for the U.S.’s worldwide imperial plundering?
Full text can be accessed at the following link:
http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_4.3/abraham_said_printable.htm
